Jalandhar: “When we were handcuffed and our legs were being chained, we thought that we were going to another migrant camp. We had no idea where we were being taken until we boarded the US military aircraft and were told that we have been deported,” said Harwinder Singh, who was among the 104 Indians onboard the deportation flight that landed in Amritsar on Wednesday (February 5).
“It was one shock after the other for us. In the flight, we sat next to each other, face-to-face, while our hands and legs were chained. We pleaded with the US officials to remove our handcuffs so that we could drink water and use the washroom but they did not respond,” Harwinder told The Wire.
“Our handcuffs and chains were taken off after we reached Sri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport, Amritsar. At the airport, the officials informed us that we have been deported for five years. I felt helpless and mentally lost, trying to figure out if it was all a bad dream or a harsh reality,” added Harwinder, as he struggled to share the hardships that he faced.
While some deportees, who reached home late on Wednesday night, spoke to the media and narrated their plight – how they struggled to sit, drink water and use the washroom with their hands tied and legs chained – others refused to address any media queries.
The conditions at the Tijuana migrant camp on the US-Mexico border, where Harwinder and others were kept before being sent to India – were just as deplorable, he said. “We did not know anything. Everybody was clueless. At the migrant camp too, the condition was deplorable,” Harwinder said.
Now, a video shared by the chief of the US Border Patrol validates the claims of the deportees that they were handcuffed and chained.
‘We have lost everything’
Harwinder’s wife Kuljinder Kaur, who was busy attending to the Tahli village panchayat members, said that the travel agent, Jaskaran Singh, who promised to take Harwinder to the US, was also from their village. “Our village panchayat members had gone to Tanda City police station to receive my husband. The panchayat members are holding a meeting with the travel agents now. We spent Rs 42 lakh to send my husband to the US for which we not only sold an acre of agricultural land but also my gold. We have been duped.”
She also questioned the silence of the Modi government and said, “If they cannot provide decent work and employment to people back home, at least they should speak up for those who try to make their life better on their own. It is shocking that not just the Modi government but the AAP government also remained silent during this time. They should have spoken for us.”
Among the deportees was a mother-son duo, who reportedly spent a whopping Rs 1.5 crore to reach the US via a dunki route.A resident of Bholath, Kapurthala district, which is known as the NRI-rich region of Punjab’s Doaba belt, Prabhjot Kaur took this risk to join her husband, who has been in the US for the last few years.
Talking to the media, an inconsolable Prabhjot Kaur, sitting with her son said, “We were handcuffed, chained in the legs, and made to sit face to face quietly. The US officials did not even record our statement. Neither did they share anything with us. All that we know is that we have been deported for five years. All the deportees were taken together to the US military aircraft and sent back to India.”
Also read: ‘Never Thought She’d Be Sent Back in a Month’: Families Grapple With Deportation of Kin From US
Prabhjot Kaur started her journey to the US on January 1 this year and reached the US on January 27. She was deported within 10 days. Like many others, Prabhjot also went to the US via European countries through a Schengen visa, hinting at the accessibility of the new route.
Jaspal Singh, another deportee onboard the flight, told The Wire, “Not only is it a huge setback, we are staring at a major financial, but the ordeal that we faced in the 40-hour long journey has left us shattered too” he said, referring the US military’s treatment of deportees onboard the plane.
Like others, Jaspal, who hails from Gurdaspur district, gave Rs 30 lakh to an agent to send him to the US. Jaspal stayed in Brazil for six months during his dunki and crossed the US border in January this year, after which he was arrested by the US Border Police and deported within 11 days.